#062 Pick One

Adventures in Sustainable Living

Episode 62

Pick One

In this episode I just want to give you not only a reality check but also a quick, thought provoking message regarding sustainability and why that is so important in our ever changing world. I am going to touch on several different important topics So, I truly hope you will stick around to the end because I really do have some good information here. And at the end I am going to give you a very sound, yet simple, strategy on how to start your journey toward a future sustainable. So please listen to the full episode which is called Pick One.

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E62 which is called Pick One.  

When I was growing up in Georgia and Tennessee there were two working farms in our family. We kept a very large garden, raised a variety of farm animals for meat, there were numerous fruit and nut trees on the property, we went on fishing trips regularly, and spent time foraging for wild berries. What we were unable to produce, we simply purchased at the local farmer’s market because those vegetables came from other local farms. Excess food was canned or frozen to last us through the winter. Self sufficiency was not something we talked about, it was the way we lived. 

Now more than ever most people make no effort to be self sufficient, much less sustainable. On a global scale, 55% of the worlds population lives in urban areas but in the United States that is as much as 83 percent. As more of us transition to urban life, a growing percentage of us are completely disconnected from the natural world. We increasingly depend on a supply chain that we do not understand and cannot possibly control. We have the expectation and belief that we will ultimately never do without anything because we live in the land of plenty. 

During the course of my lifetime the population of the world has more than doubled. At the time of this writing there are about 7.85 billion people that call this planet home. It is expected that global population will increase to 9.1 billion by the year 2050. As could be expected, that increased population comes at a price. 

Human activity is driving numerous changes on a global scale many of which we are just beginning to understand. Presently, we utilize 50% of our habitable land for agricultural activities. Moreover, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says that agricultural production on a global scale will have to produce 70% more food by the middle of the century in order to feed the growing population. Yet agricultural production is by far one of the largest drivers of environmental destruction. 

As if that were not enough, many areas in the world are experiencing prolonged drought conditions. Presently 1 in 3 people globally do not have access to fresh water. Now that may be difficult to swallow when you stand on the banks of the mighty Mississippi, the Ohio, the Tennessee, or the Missouri Rivers. 

But there is an underlying trend that most people do not understand. While nearly 70% of our planet is covered with water only 2.5% of that is fresh water. The rest of it is saline or ocean water. We only have easy access to about 1% of that fresh water. The rest of it is trapped in glaciers and snow fields. Now the amount of water on the planet has always been essentially the same, even since the time of the dinosaurs. This is because water is constantly recycled through the atmosphere and back to Earth.  

But over time the population of the world has exploded which means every year the competition for clean safe water intensifies. Water usage globally has out paced the population growth by 50%. We are now witnessing river basins literally running dry, which of course exacerbates our fresh water crisis.  In fact, 17 countries, which are home to 25% of the worlds population, now face extreme water stress. 

Despite all of this, we go about our daily lives pretending nothing is happening. It’s as if we are speeding along in a vehicle, pass a sign that says “Danger Cliff Just Ahead” , and we just look at each other and say “Well, it hasn’t happened yet.” This of course makes me question what will it take to get everyone’s attention? What will it take too slow down the inertia of our culture and change course to something more sustainable?  Because, at least according to NASA, 

“The effects of human-caused global warming are happening now, are irreversible on the timescale of people alive today, and will worsen in the decades to come.” 

Now that adds new depth to the saying “We are all in this together.” Between the effects of climate change and the most recent pandemic, it is quite obvious that we all now live in a global and highly connected community. Despite that we still see a highly polarized community with painful inequality, unfair distribution of wealth, resources, and even critical medical supplies. But what most of us never think about is that the success of our efforts is closely linked to the health and welfare of even the most marginalized members of our global community.

But with our ever diminishing supply of vital resources, the question becomes how are we going to conserve, manage, and distribute those resources so that the people alive today continue to have a decent standard of living and we leave plenty of resources for the generations to come. 

The answer is sustainability. 

What is Sustainability

So what does that mean? What exactly is sustainability? What does that look like? 

In a very academic sense, the three main pillars of sustainability are economic, environmental, and social. Less formally, these are referred or as people, planet, and profits. Now I am quite certain that the environment would be just fine without any people. But, without people there is no society and certainly no economy. Consequently, if we humans want to continue to exist on this planet, we must pay close attention to all three pillars  to develop a sustainable future. 

To put things plainly, sustainability is truly based on one simple principle. Everything that we need for our health, well-being, and survival is connected, either directly or indirectly, to the natural world. Now if you are still not convinced of just how connected we are to the natural world, then listen to my podcast E58 which is called Twelve Unexpected Consequences of Climate Change. In that presentation I give 12 examples that clearly revealed how one thing affects another and how there must be a balance. 

But for us to live sustainably simply means to create and maintain a lifestyle where we have a mutually beneficial and productive relationship with nature. By doing so, we not only take care of our needs but also leave sufficient resources for future generations. 

Now you would think that would be obvious to all of us. Yet we continue to drive along in our take-make-dispose economy and we just passed that sign that says “Danger Cliff Just Ahead”.

Why Is This Important? 

Admittedly, this maybe a difficult concept for many to grasp considering our highly connected and global community. We are at the point where we deeply dependent on resources in some far away land in order to make our lives function. Consequently, if one country in our global community struggles due to a financial crisis, resource depletion, an environmental crisis or even foreign invasion, it is entirely possible for that to set in motion a cascade of reactions that triggers a global crisis. 

Many people would simply throw up their hands and say “What is the world coming to these days ?” Well, I would counter that by saying the world is not coming to anything else other than what it has always been coming too. The only difference is that with modern technology and the internet, if some unfortunate event occurs half way around the globe, we all hear about it 10 minutes later. 

And as one of my favorite authors Simon Anholt points out, the natural cycle of human civilizations is that they rise and flourish, then they become strained and decadent, then they decline and fall. And in our modern world all that is new is the fact that we have the power to take most of nature down with us.

But, have no fear, in my podcast in E2 called  The Most Sustainable Countries I clearly point out several examples of entire countries that have gone to renewable energy. Not only that, the United States has sufficient natural resources to produce 6 times more electricity than what is needed to run the entire country. 

Yet big business and big government refuse to move toward renewables and we continue to languish comfortably with a dwindling supply of fossils fuels. And in the back drop the big oil companies try to shift the blame of global warming on the consumer as I clearly pointed out in episode 52 of my podcast Your Carbon Footprint is Just a Sham. 

Meanwhile the average everyday person drowns in a sea of misinformation, our environment is polluted with what is being called forever chemicals, our oceans are filling with plastic pollution, and in the United States food waste on a yearly basis is estimated to be 30% to 40% of our food supply.

Did you know that approximately 80% of the worlds virgin forest have now been destroyed or irreparably degraded. All for the purpose of providing timber, wood and paper products, and  clearing for agriculture. At our current rate of consumption, we will no longer have rain forests by the year 2100 and the planet will be completely barren of trees in another 300 years. 

In 1856 an American scientist name Eunice Foote, first described the extraordinary power of carbon dioxide to absorb heat. A few years later in 1861 an Irish scientist name John Tyndall observed the same effect. But the first quantitative estimate of carbon dioxide-induced climate change was made a Swedish scientist  Svante Arrhenius in 1896. His publication was considered the first seminal paper on climate change. And here we are 125 years later and people are finally starting to agree. 

I first started hearing about climate change when I was a teenager. At the time, I thought that was an interesting concept but that most likely I would never see that in my lifetime. Well, once again, I was wrong. 

Considering all that I have pointed out here, you are likely asking at this point, “Well, what’s a person to do?” My response to that question is very simple. 

Pick one. 

That may seem confusing but I can guarantee if I point you to one out of a hundred different resources that I possess on the topic of sustainability, you will be even more confused. I can just as easily point you to various internet based resources that give 101 tips on sustainability. Or maybe I could point you to one out of the 230 different books I have on my iPad on the subjects of living off the grid, solar design and installation, gardening, hydroponics, raising chickens, basic carpentry, or even small engine repair. 

But if I did that it would all be just as confusing as the sea of misinformation that we are presently swimming in. You would be  overwhelmed, not know where to start, and would likely sorely suffer from information overload and then do nothing at all. But that is why I say, 

Pick one. 

The simple truth is that most of us live under the misguided belief that if all else fails, someone will take care of us. Often times in our culture, we have this underlying, perhaps unspoken belief that we can solve our problems with money and technology. If all else fails, the government will swoop in and save us all. 

I hate to burst your bubble, but nothing could be further from the truth. 

That is why you must pick one. 

As I so often say, as long as someone else is in control of your resources, they are in fact in control of your life. Consequently, you cannot wait for the world governments to adjourn from their never-ending board meeting in order to solve this problem of a sustainable future. 

The time to start living sustainably is now. Because if you do not do something now, tomorrow you may not have a choice. This is the very reason I have learned so much about renewable energy and my entire homestead is run off of nothing but solar. Because tomorrow I may not have a choice. 

This is why you must pick one. 

There are endless ways to starting living a more sustainable life. It is a matter of developing one new habit at a time. As you have likely heard me say before, preventing a single piece of trash from going to the land fill will not save the planet. But, a lifetime of sustainable habits will. 

So pick one. 

Pick one thing that you are going to change in your life in order to start living more sustainably, keep that one habit in your life for the rest of your life. Once that works for you, then pick one more. Then one more. 

Most people never stop to think that the decisions you make today do in fact decide what your life is going to be like 5 years from now. Since I spend a lot of time in the outdoors, I adhere strictly to the principle of “leave only footprints”. What if we all made the decision to live more sustainably and what if we all went through our entire lives, or what is presently left of our life, and adhered to the principle of “leave only footprints”. 

Then by default, you would have adhered to the principles of using only what you need, reducing your waste, giving up plastics, respecting other cultures, extending a simple act of kindness, and being mindful of the fact that every single thing you do has an impact. Imagine what your life would be like 5 years from now. 

I think we can all agree that we truly live in unprecedented times. We now live in a world that is changing so rapidly that it is difficult for even the most sound minded person to feel some since of security. That can change by learning to manage some of your own resources. That can change by learning to live a little more independently. That can change by simply living a more sustainable life.

So pick one.

The whole point to this presentation is to stimulate your thought processes and perhaps get you to question how you are living your life and why. And of course, the point is to encourage you to change what you are doing and live more sustainably. 

On a personal note, I have lived entirely off the grid for 25 years now and I never regret my choice, especially now. While I do not expect anyone to do what I do, it is very possible for most of us to change how we live even in some small little way. 

The best way to get started is…………

Pick one. 

Margaret Mead, who was a cultural anthropologist, and frequent public speaker in the 1960s and 1970s once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

And who would have ever thought that one teenager, Gretta Thunberg, could get the attention of the entire global community. 

During this coming week there is something very simple that you can do for yourself. Take the time to go for a nice slow walk in the woods. Enjoy the sites, smells, and sounds of the forest and start reconnecting with the natural world. Because it is the natural world that sustains us all. And you are never going to make the effort the save the earth unless you learn to love it.

Them make the commitment to be a thoughtful, committed citizen that will be a part of changing the world.   

But that is all for now folks. I hope you have enjoyed this presentation. Don’t forget to subscribe to my podcast Adventures in Sustainable Living, as well as my companion blog Off Grid Living News. 

This is Patrick, signing off for now.  

Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future. 

Patrick